Currently there are 4 main Shipping alliances. The Crurrent Alliances are G6, Ocean Three, 2m, and CKYHE. these will all be changing in early 2017 due to mergers and acquisitions. Currently CKYHE does not call in Halifax.
The G6 Alliance consists of American President Lines (APL), Hapag-Lloyd, Neptune Orient Line (NOL), Hyundai Merchant Marine, Mitsu OSK (MOL), Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) Line and Orient Overseas Container line(OOCL). the
Ocean Three Alliance consists of CMA-CGM,China Shipping Co. Ltd. (CSCL) and United Arab Shipping Co.(UASC).
the 2m Alliance, is not surprisingly made up of Maersk line and Mediterranean Shipping Co.(MSC). only Maersk makes a weekly call in Halifax. the CKYHE Alliance consists of Cosco Container Lines, “K” Line, Yang Ming Line, Hanjin Shipping, and Evergreen Line.

these alliances are getting a big shakeup. Hyundai Merchant Marine is Joining the 2m Alliance for 2017.

In the past year, CMA-CGM (Ocean Three) Bought APL (G6) and NOL (G6) and COSCO (CKYHE) and CSCL (Oceans Three) were merged into China Cosco Shipping by the Chinese government. They will be joined by OOCL and Evergreen line to form the Oceans Alliance (Route Details)

Also HAPAG-Lloyd (G6) merged with CSAV in 2014 and bought UASC (Oceans Three) in 2016. it was also announced this year that NYK (G6), MOL(G6) and K Line (CKYHE) are merging into a new entity. Hanjin recently went Bankrupt.
these lines, along with Yang Ming have formed The Alliance (Route List), although Hanjin will likely be sold or Liquidated.

ZIM restructuring due to high debt, but so far is remaining independent. ACL is also remaining independent, though it currently has slot Charters with Hapag-Llyod, and predicts growth with their new G4 Series ships. Bahri, Nirint, Melfi, Eimskip, Oceanex all run smaller specialized services, focused on supplying small geographic areas and are likely unaffected by the shakeups of the larger lines.

UPDATE: After this post was initially posted, tropic shipping announced they will be moving to Halifax from Saint Johns NB in January 2017. This will add a weekly call to the Caribbean.

The Alliance – Hapag-Lloyd, K Line, MOL, NYK and Yang Ming Announced their new routing today. Halifax Features on Three Services, which look to generate 4 weekly calls. Recall that NYK, MOL and K Line agreed to merge their container services 2 weeks ago.

The New EC 5 service is roughly equivalent to the AZX service of the G6 Alliance. It makes bi-directional stops in halifax on both east and westbound legs. Laem Chabang – Cai Mep – South East Asia Hub – Colombo – (Suez Canal) – Halifax – New York – South Atlantic (US) – Norfolk – Halifax – (Suez Canal) – Arabian Gulf Hub – South East Asia Hub – Laem Chabang

The AL 6 is a new service calling on Halifax for this Alliance. It roughly mirrors the current ZIM and Melfi Services that call on Halifax, though those both service the Caribbean, which this does not. The routing is Livorno – La Spezia – Genoa – Fos – Barcelona – Valencia – West Med Hub – Halifax – New York – Norfolk – South Atlantic (US) – West Med Hub – Valencia – Livorno

The three large Japanese shipping companies have announced they will merge their container lines into a new firm, which will be the 7th largest. NYK currently calls on Halifax as part of the G6 alliance. MOL and K-Line stopped calling in 2011 when their shared service ended service to Halifax.

With the recent bankruptcy of Hanjin, and CMA-CGM’s acquisition of NOL, and the termination and creation of alliances there will be lots of change coming in the next year.

Maersk Penang made the weekly stop today at Pier 41. NYK Demeter Tied up at Fairview Cove. Both arrived for 8am. Maersk Penang sailed mid afternoon, with NYK Demeter sailing in he early evening.

Serenity Ace tied up at autoport for 5pm. Cap Lara spent the day at anchorage 1, awaiting CFIA Moth inspection. The first vessel of the ear to stop for this. She arrived for 9.

Also making appearances today were the tanker Citrine, who anchored in the basin, Atlantic Huron for National gypsum at 8am, and CSL Metis, who anchored, and will take Atlantic Hurons place at Nation Gypsum.